Neuropathological findings in patients with clinical diagnoses of probable Alzheimer's disease.
To assess prospectively the accuracy of standard antemortem clinical diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease, post-mortem examinations were performed on 25 patients who had met DSM-III criteria for primary degenerative dementia and National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease. Seventeen patients (68%) met neuropathological criteria for Alzheimer's disease. Two presenile-onset patients had diffuse neocortical senile plaques of insufficient number for definite Alzheimer's disease. Six patients had non-Alzheimer's disease diagnoses. Five of these six had presenile-onset dementia. These results suggest caution in the antemortem diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in presenile-onset dementia.
Risse
S C
SC
Psychiatry Service, American Lake VA Medical Center, Tacoma, WA 98493.
Raskind
M A
MA
Nochlin
D
D
Sumi
S M
SM
Lampe
T H
TH
Bird
T D
TD
Cubberley
L
L
Peskind
E R
ER
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009454:Neurofibrils / Q000473:pathology